KR20150143249A - Product price decision apparatus and method for an electronic information label system - Google Patents

Abstract

Disclosed are an apparatus and a method for determining a product price for an electronic information label system. The apparatus for determining a product price identifies a customer interest level with respect to a certain product based on action or characteristics exhibited by a customer who visits a store, and determines the product price base on the customer interest level. The apparatus for determining a product price may firstly determine an initial price according to an existing method and change the initial price by applying the customer interest level and a sales amount, when needed, to determine the price. The determined price of the product can be transmitted to the electronic information label system and displayed on an electronic information label tag.

Description

[0001] The present invention relates to a product price determination apparatus and method for an electronic information label system,

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Field of the Invention [0002] The present invention relates to an electronic information label (EIL) system related technology, and more specifically, to a technique for determining the price of a product electronically displayed by an EIL system.

In the retail stores such as discount stores, department stores, outlets, and retail stores, paper labels are commonly used to display information related to products including commodity prices. Various issues and disadvantages with regard to paper labels have recently been highlighted . For example, environmental issues have been raised by the use of paper labels as the importance of environmental issues grows. In addition, the cost of producing and managing paper labels continues to increase, and paper labels are prone to be damaged due to the nature of the materials. In addition, the paper label is not only difficult to update the product related information in a timely manner, but also causes a delay with the updating of the product related information.

An electronic information label (EIL) system has been proposed as a way to efficiently and systematically manage a large number of commodities sold and solving the issues and disadvantages associated with such paper labels. The EIL system is also referred to as an ESL (Electronic Shelf Label) system. The EIL system is a system for electronically displaying product related information such as a product name and a product price through an EIL tag, which is an electronic information labeling device. Product related information is generated by an EIL server linked with an EIL tag and provided as an EIL tag. According to such an EIL system, the EIL tag receives product-related information including a commodity price from an EIL server as data (for example, an image file) in a predetermined format and displays the data on a screen. Even if information such as a commodity price is changed, When new product related information including information is generated and transmitted to the EIL tag, the changed information can be immediately displayed in the EIL tag.

Various products are displayed and sold in stores, including seasonal products. The seasonal product is a peak season, for example, a product that generates the most demand in a particular season. When the peak season is low, demand is little or insignificant. These seasonal products have a significant sales portion in sales during the peak season or before, while they increase the cost of inventory management during low season. Therefore, efficient sales strategies for seasonal products, ie, efficient and timely pricing, are needed to increase store profits through increased sales during the high season and to reduce costs such as inventory management costs during low season.

As described above, seasonal products have a fluctuation in the sales volume of products due to seasonal or environmental changes, and their sales volume sharply decreases when the peak season passes. In view of this, it is common for seasonal products to start selling at high prices before the peak season to maximize profits, and to reduce the cost of inventory management in the off-peak season, to be. However, since this pricing method determines prices only based on sales forecasts according to the point of sale, it is difficult to operate the store efficiently by reflecting various variables. For example, if the seasonal or seasonal peak season is over, but there are a variety of other factors and customers are demanding discount sales, then the sales profits in the stores are inevitable.

There is provided an apparatus and method for determining an article price for an electronic information label system capable of maximizing a sales profit through efficient price determination of a product having a large demand change over time, such as a product, particularly, a seasonal article.

According to one embodiment, the actual demand of customers for seasonal commodities is more accurately predicted in various ways to determine prices. In order to accurately predict actual demand, customer interest is determined through behaviors and characteristics shown by customers visiting the store, and prices are determined adaptively by reflecting them. Information about the real-time sales volume of the product or the difference between the target sales volume and the real-time sales volume can be used for price determination.

First, the base price is determined according to the existing method. For example, a base price can be determined based on historical demand. The base price can be set to a target price for each period, and additionally, the target sales volume can be set as well. Then, in real time, customer interest is estimated to forecast demand and final price is determined based on predicted demand. The determination of demand forecast and / or final price may also reflect information on real-time sales volume. The final price can be determined in the form of increasing or decreasing it based on the base price, that is, updating the base price. As time elapses, not only the customer's interest but also the sales amount will change, and the forecast demand will be changed accordingly, and thus the final price may be changed.

A variety of information can be used to identify customer interests and behavior. For example, currently widely used information such as the number of accesses to a product page on a web page and / or the number of times a product is referred to on social media such as SNS may be a measure of customer interest. In addition, customer interest can be identified based on the behavior or characteristics of the customers actually taking place in the store, and utilized in demand forecasting. In order to grasp the customer's interest, various devices (for example, an EIL tag having a proximity communication function, an EIL tag having a touch recognition function, a digital billboard, a video surveillance device, a proximity sensor, an indoor location information service server, Can be utilized.

According to one aspect, the customer interest can be grasped through the contact frequency of the EIL tag of the product. To this end, the EIL tag may utilize a touch sensing function (e.g., a touch screen function) or a switch or a proximity communication (NFC) target in an EIL tag. According to another aspect, the customer's interest can be grasped through the customer's reaction to the product advertised on the digital billboard. For this purpose, a proximity sensor or a camera may be additionally attached to the digital billboard, or a video surveillance device (CCTV) installed in the store may be utilized to grasp the degree of interest of the customer in the advertisement. According to another aspect, the customer's interest can be grasped through the customer's location information or traffic information in the store. To this end, a proximity sensor installed on a shelf, a CCTV in a store, or a location tracking system (for example, a system for tracking the location of a customer in a commodity transportation cart used in a store) .

According to an embodiment of the present invention, there is provided an apparatus for determining a price of a product sold in a store equipped with an electronic information label (EIL) system and providing the determined price to an EIL system, An interest evaluation unit, and a final price determination unit. The base price determination part determines the base price based on the demand forecast of the product over time. The interest evaluation department evaluates customer interest displayed in real time by the interest or behavior displayed by the customers visiting the store. The final price determination unit determines the final price by increasing or decreasing the base price in accordance with the customer's interest in the product evaluated by the interest evaluation unit. According to an aspect of the present invention, the merchandise price determination apparatus may further include a sales volume analysis unit for analyzing the real time sales volume of the merchandise. In this case, the final price determination unit may determine the final price reflecting the real time sales volume by the sales volume analysis unit have.

A method for determining a product price according to an embodiment for solving the above-mentioned problem is a method for determining a price of a product sold in a store equipped with an electronic information label (EIL) system. First, the base price is determined based on the demand forecast of the product over time. In addition, customers who visit the store evaluate the customer interest expressed by the interest or behavior displayed on the product in real time. It also determines the final price to be displayed through the EIL system by increasing or decreasing the base price to reflect customer interest in the product. According to one aspect, the real-time sales amount of a product can be analyzed and utilized together with the final price.

According to the aspects of the disclosed embodiment, not only the information used in the existing pricing, but also the customers who visited the store predict the demand in real time using various behaviors and characteristics shown in the store, and then determine the price of the product. Of course, it is possible to maximize sales profits. For example, a product with a high level of customer interest is determined at a higher price than the existing price, thereby maximizing sales profits. On the other hand, products with low customer interest will be priced lower than existing prices, so that burden on inventory management will not occur.

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a schematic configuration of a general electronic information label system.
2 is a block diagram of a store system for explaining an operation of a product pricing apparatus for an electronic information label system according to an embodiment.
3 is a block diagram showing an example of a configuration of a product pricing apparatus included in the store system of FIG.
4A is a graph showing an example of a method of determining the base price.
4B is a graph showing an example of the temporal demand and an example of the predictive demand, respectively.
5A is a view showing an example of an aspect in which product detailed information is displayed when one of the displayed products of the EIL tag is selected.
5B is a diagram illustrating an example of a screen for searching for a product through a digital billboard.
5C is a diagram showing an example of graphic representation of customer traffic in a store.
FIG. 6 is a flowchart illustrating a method of determining a product price according to an embodiment.

Hereinafter, embodiments will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. The terms used in the following embodiments are terms selected in consideration of the functions in the embodiments, and the meaning of the terms may vary depending on the user, the intention or custom of the operator, and the like. Therefore, the meaning of a term used herein should be interpreted according to its definition when it is specifically defined in the present specification, and in the case where there is no specific definition, a person skilled in the art will generally understand it. In the following description, a detailed description of known functions and configurations incorporated herein will be omitted when it may make the technical concept of the present invention unnecessarily obscure.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a schematic configuration of a general electronic information label (EIL) system. FIG. Referring to FIG. 1, an electronic information labeling system 100 includes an EIL server 110, one or more gateways 120, and a plurality of EIL tags 130.

The EIL server 110 generates product related information such as a product name and a product price displayed through the EIL tag 130 as a management device of the EIL system 100 in a predetermined format and transmits the product related information to the EIL tag 130. Product related information may be received from an external device of the EIL server 110, such as a customer system or a retailer server, and / or received from an external database (DB, reference numeral 140 in FIG. 2) May be stored. The EIL server 110 may communicate with the gateways 120 via an internal network, e.g., an internal wired network.

The gateway 120 is responsible for relaying communication between the EIL server 110 and the EIL tag 130. The one or more gateways 120 may be installed in a suitable topology inside the store, for example, at a predetermined interval on the ceiling in the store. Each of the gateways 120 can relay the EIL tags 130 of all or some of the entire EIL tags 130 to communicate with the EIL server 110, Tag 130. [ For this purpose, the gateway 120 may communicate with the EIL tag 130 via a short-range wireless communication network, such as a 2.4GHz Zigbee network, for example. In this case, the gateway 120 relays data transmission / reception between the EIL server 110 and the EIL tag 130 as a wired / wireless conversion device. For example, when the EIL server 110 transmits EIL Tag 130 as shown in FIG.

The EIL tag 130 has a predetermined standard or format predetermined as an electronic information label device. The standard or format of the EIL tag 130 may be standardized for compatibility between EIL systems, but is not limited thereto. For example, the EIL tag 130 may be a 7-segment tag capable of displaying numbers or characters in seven strokes and / or a graphic tag capable of displaying various information such as a product name, a barcode, a logo, and the like.

According to one aspect, the EIL tag 130 maintains the sleep state, and wakes up according to a control signal from the remote controller. The EIL tag 130 then transmits the goods related information to be received from the EIL server 110 through the gateway 120 (E.g., updated price information). The EIL tag 130 receives the goods-related information transmitted from the EIL server 110 through the gateway 120 and displays it on the screen. And then switches to the sleep state again. If there is no product-related information to be received, the system immediately switches to the sleep state.

The EIL tag 130 is allocated to the same products displayed together and displays product related information for the same products. In one EIL tag 130, the product-related information for one commodity may be displayed or the product-related information for a plurality of commodities may be displayed. In the latter case, the display screen of the EIL tag 130 can be divided into a plurality of areas, and the product related information of each product can be displayed so as to occupy a predetermined area divided on the display screen of the EIL tag 130 have.

2 is a block diagram illustrating an example of a configuration of a store system for explaining an operation of a product pricing apparatus for an electronic information label system according to an embodiment. Referring to FIG. 2, the store system includes an EIL system 100, a goods pricing device 200, and a customer system 310. The store system includes a historical demand database 320, a proximity sensor 330, an indoor positioning service (IPS) server 340, a digital signage 350, A signage server 360, and a web server 370. The web server 370 may be a web server or a web server. In FIG. 2, the user 400 refers to a customer who uses a mobile phone, such as a smart phone, rather than a part of a store system. Since the basic functions of each component constituting such a store system are well known in the art, a detailed description thereof will be omitted here.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing an example of the configuration of a product pricing apparatus 200 according to an embodiment included in the store system of FIG. In FIG. 2, the commodity pricing apparatus 200 is shown as being separate from the EIL system 100 or the customer system 310, but this is only based on a functional distinction. Depending on the implementation of the store system, the product pricing apparatus 200 may be implemented as part of the EIL system 100 or the customer system 310, or as part of other components included in the store system. Hereinafter, the configuration and operation of the product pricing apparatus according to one embodiment will be described in detail with reference to FIG. 2 and FIG.

The commodity price determination device 200 is a device for determining the commodity price among the commodity related information to be transmitted to the EIL system 100. In the case of seasonal commodities, commodity prices have traditionally been determined based on historical demand, reflecting changes in the external environment, including climate factors such as temperature and weather forecasts. However, the merchandise price determination apparatus 200 according to an embodiment determines prices by evaluating and reflecting the actual demand of customers, that is, the customer's interest in the merchandise, especially seasonal merchandise, in various ways.

3, the commodity price determination apparatus 200 includes a base price determination unit 210, an interest degree determination unit 220, a sales volume analysis unit 230, and a final price determination unit 240. The components of the product pricing apparatus 200 shown in FIG. 3 are logically divided according to their functions, and two or more components may be implemented physically or in software, or the entire components may be separately It will be apparent to those skilled in the art.

The base price determination unit 210 of the product price determination apparatus 200 first determines the base price according to the existing method. 'Base price' is the price that is determined on the basis of the time demand forecast reflecting the external environmental factors. And external environmental factors may indicate things such as predicted temperature and weather. For example, in the case of summer goods, external environmental factors can be the duration of the rainy season, the period when the heat is expected, the maximum temperature, the probability of precipitation, and the intensive summer vacation period of companies. In the case of winter products, the degree of coldness and snowfall can be external environmental factors. This base price does not reflect the actual demand according to the customer's interest evaluated according to the embodiments described below.

And 'existing method' refers to determining price based on cost, survey, market research, annual price fluctuation or sales. As an example of the existing method, the base price determining unit 210 can determine the base price based on the historical demand stored in the historical demand DB 320. [ The aging demand database may store information on annual price fluctuations or sales. For example, the base price could be to set the selling price as the period elapses. In addition to the determination of the base price, the target sales volume can also be set in an interlocking manner.

4A is a graph showing an example of a method by which the base price determining unit 210 determines a base price of a seasonal commodity according to an example of an existing method. Referring to FIG. 4A, the demand for seasonal commodities generally increases slightly before the peak season, that is, during the pre-season, and the peak demand occurs in the early period of the peak season. Demand decreases. And when the season is over, that is, when the off-season is over, there is little demand. In Figure 4a this is shown as a graph marked by historical demand.

Referring to FIG. 4A, the product selling price can be determined in the following manner based on the time-dependent requirement. More specifically, it is common to use a high-price strategy based on the release of new merchandise before the peak season (in some cases, a price discount event may be performed in the form of a pre-order, but here, ), And thus the base price is also set high. In the high demand season, the base price is maintained at a normal price, and after a peak season, a discount rate is applied to lower the base price, thereby inducing sales promotion and attempting to reduce inventory burden. In FIG. 4A, the fluctuation process of the base price is shown as a graph showing a historical fixed price.

However, this pricing policy only predicts the sales volume based on only the time, and the sensitivity to the actual demand change of the customers is lowered. For example, in spite of the fact that demand is high, the price is fixed at a low price due to the seasonal peak season, or even when the demand is not in fact, the peak season is approaching, The phenomenon of fixing may occur. In the former case, the seller may miss the increase in profit that can be generated sufficiently due to the increase in demand. In the latter case, the increase in inventory due to the decrease in sales may lead to an increase in the management cost due to inventory management.

The goods pricing apparatus 200 according to an embodiment grasps the customer interest in real time to predict the demand more accurately, and then determines the final price based on the predicted demand. Demand forecasting for determining the final price can be based on customer interest as well as sales volume information. The final price determination process may be a function of the final price determination unit 240 of the product price determination device 200. The interest evaluation unit 220 can be used to determine the customer interest used by the final price determination unit 240 in determining the final price. Also, it is possible for the sales amount analyzing unit 230 to grasp the sales amount of the product that the final price determining unit 240 can additionally use in determining the final price in addition to the customer interest.

As described above, in the case of a seasonal product, demand is concentrated within a specific period, so that sales and inventory management during that period greatly affect the profit. Generally, in the case of seasonal products, sales price and sales quantity are planned based on historical demand such as past sales quantity, but actual demand quantity can be changed by various factors. The difference between predicted demand and actual demand is not the same for seasonal goods as for general goods. Therefore, it is usually important for a commodity, especially a seasonal commodity, to precisely predict demand quantity in consideration of such various changeable factors, and to determine the selling price and the sales quantity based thereon.

FIG. 4B is a graph showing an example of the temporal demand for the seasonal commodity and an example of the predictive demand, respectively. In FIG. 4B, the graph of the demand for time series shows a change in demand over time for seasonal products based on the peak season according to the existing method, and the demand demand graph is based on time taken considering various factors such as customer's interest It is a graph showing changes in demand. As can be seen with reference to FIG. 4B, it is clear that the forecast demand considering various factors can be different from the time demand.

In the case of seasonal commodities, environmental changes such as expected temperature (intensity of cold or heat of the season) or weather (many rainy days or lots of hot days or many dusts or fine dusts) It was mainly used to predict demand. However, not only can this method be based on inaccurate long-term weather forecasts, but also because environmental changes are not necessarily reflected in demand, there is a certain limit to accurate demand forecasting.

In the embodiment, the customer interest is grasped in real time by using various devices constituting the store system, and the demand is predicted, that is, used for determining the forecasted sales volume. To this end, the commodity pricing apparatus 200 includes an interest evaluation unit 220. The interest evaluating unit 220 uses the various information that can evaluate the interest or the behavior that the customers express or express about the specific commodity to grasp the degree of interest of the customer. These customers 'interests or behaviors are related to the interests or behaviors expressed by the customers visiting the store, the characteristics of the customers (and those customers' interests, behaviors, and characteristics can be identified through the devices provided in the store system) Although it is a principle, it is not limited to this.

For example, when the customer accesses the web page of the store using his or her own smartphone 400 on the outside or inside of the store, and clicks on the specific product or the number of times the product is mentioned on the social media such as the SNS Information that is widely used to grasp the predictive demand of the current product can also be used to grasp customer interest. At this time, the product search frequency information is transmitted to the product pricing apparatus 200 through the web server 370 that manages the web page, and can be used to evaluate the customer interest in the interest evaluation unit 220. In addition, information related to changes in competitors' prices or indicators of highly related products can be used as references for evaluating the customer interest of the product.

However, in the case of simple web surfing, it is not likely to lead to substantial purchasing. Also, when referring to SNS, it may not be related to purchase intention. On the other hand, in the case of customers visiting the store, the actual purchase intention of the product is relatively high. Based on this, according to one aspect of the embodiment, the customer's behavior or characteristics occurring in the store is utilized as a main index for grasping the customer's interest.

One of these indicators may be the number of interactions of the customer with respect to the EIL tag 130 constituting the EIL system 100, for example, the frequency of contact with the EIL tag 130. That is, the interest evaluation unit 220 can determine the customer interest through the customer's contact frequency with respect to the EIL tag 130 of the product. The contact with the EIL tag 130 is not limited to the physical contact of the customer with a finger or the like, and may be performed by authenticating / authenticating the EIL tag 130 using a predetermined device (e.g., a smart phone) Or to communicate with the EIL tag 130. For example, the NFC target included in the EIL tag 130 may be read using a proximity communication (NFC) reader of the smartphone, or the NFC target stored in the smart phone may be read by a proximity communication (NFC) reader May also be included as an example of the contact with the EIL tag 130. In this case, since the customer is required to act actively using his or her own smartphone, the weight of the customer interest may be higher than in other cases. When there is contact with the EIL tag 130, access information on the product detailed information from the EIL system 100, more specifically, the EIL server 110, is input to the product pricing apparatus 200 to evaluate the customer interest .

As described above, the EIL tag 130 may display price information for one or more goods, and an example of such an EIL tag 130 is shown in FIG. 5A. In the EIL tag shown in FIG. 5A, the name and price of four goods (Bolero Pants, Flower Jeans, Black Tops, and R. Cardigans) sold under the title 'Manager's Special Offer' Respectively. Then, when the customer selects one of the products (Flower Jeans in FIG. 5A) among the products disclosed in the EIL tag 130, detailed information (material, product characteristics, manufacturing country, size information, etc.) And can be displayed on the entire screen of the EIL tag 130. To this end, it is necessary for the EIL tag 130 to have a function of detecting contact (e.g., a touch screen function) or a switch. At this time, if the detailed information of the product is displayed, the interest score may be increased. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and if the predetermined condition is satisfied after the detailed information is displayed (for example, Or if the customer touches a screen with additional details displayed, or if the customer uses his smartphone to read an NFC target included in the detailed information, etc.), the interest score may be increased.

2 and 3, the other one of the indicators that can be used to ascertain the degree of interest of the customer who visited the store is related to utilizing the digital signage 350. That is, the customer's interest can be grasped through the customer's reaction to the product being advertised in the digital billboard 350 installed in the store, and the signboard server 360 can display information about the advertisement exposure and / The customer interest behavior information may be transmitted to the commodity price deciding apparatus 200 so that the interest evaluating unit 220 may be used to determine the customer interest. A plurality of digital billboards 350 may be installed in a store, and particularly in a retail store. Advertising and promotion information on various products are provided through the digital billboard 350. And can be used to identify customer interest.

The customer's interest can be expressed in various ways, and the mechanism of grasping according to the mode can be changed. For example, it can be assumed that there is an interest of the customer only for the product of the advertisement that the customer watches for a certain period of time, rather than all the advertisement that is provided and exposed in the digital billboard 350. This is because advertisements that customers do not pay attention to are not likely to be of interest to customers. To this end, the digital billboard 350 is provided with a proximity sensor or a video camera (CCTV) installed in the store or the like attached to the upper end of the digital billboard 350 so as to grasp the degree of interest of the customer about the advertised product Can be utilized. As another example, the customer's interest can be more accurately grasped by calculating the time that the customer concentrates on the digital billboard 350 by utilizing a device for recognizing the customer's eyeball.

As another example, if there is an active act of the customer for the digital billboard 350, it can be assumed that there is an interest of the customer. To this end, additional functions may be required for the digital billboard 350. Further, a function of displaying a bar code so that a product search function or bar code reading of a product displayed on the digital billboard 350 may be further needed . FIG. 5B shows an example of a screen for searching for a product through a digital billboard, and it can be seen that detailed information about a running line is displayed on the digital billboard.

Another of the indicators that can be used to determine the level of interest of visitors to the store is to use customer location information or customer traffic information in the store. In this case, the interest evaluating unit 220 may determine whether the commodity displayed on the site where a large number of customers are crowded or staying for a relatively long time at a specific time and / or the commodity displayed on the concentrated location of the traffic of the customers, However, a product that is located in a location where the customer is at a low position or where the customer is staying at a short time, or a product that is displayed in a place where the traffic of the customer is not so high can be evaluated as being low in customer interest. FIG. 5C shows an example of graphical representation of customer traffic in a store, wherein a portion indicated by a relatively red line in a floor plan represents an area where customer traffic is high.

An Indoor Positioning Service (IPS) server 340, see FIG. 2, may be utilized for this purpose. Nowadays, interest in IPS is growing, and various solutions are being provided accordingly. When the customer's location information is obtained indoors, the user can obtain the frequency and time information of the customer staying in the specific product group in real time, and thereby, the customer's interest in the product group can be grasped. If it is impossible to trace the customer's location by simply utilizing the IPS server 340, a proximity sensor 330 (see FIG. 2) or CCTV installed in a store shelf can be additionally utilized. Alternatively, it may be considered to install a proximity sensor or a CCTV only in the area where the seasonal product is disposed to grasp the traffic of the customer.

2 and 3, the sales volume analysis unit 230 of the product price determination apparatus 200 analyzes the sales volume of the product in real time. The sales volume analyzer 230 may analyze the absolute volume of merchandise sales in real time or analyze the relative increase / decrease value compared to the previous sales volume. And / or the sales volume analyzer 230 may compare the target sales volume for each period set by the base price determiner 210 with the actual sales volume to determine the degree of over-or-under. The information on the real-time sales volume information and the set target sales volume can be received through the POS (Point Of Sales) of the customer system 310.

The final price determining unit 240 determines the final selling price of the corresponding commodity and delivers it to the EIL system 100. The final sale price delivered to the EIL system 100 may be displayed in the EIL tag 130 of the product. The final price determination unit 240 determines the final price using at least the customer interest information received from the interest evaluation unit 220. [ At this time, the final price to be determined may be further increased or decreased or determined on the basis of the base price determined and received by the base price determining unit 210. In addition, when the final price determination unit 240 determines the final price, the real-time sales volume information received from the sales volume analysis unit 230 may be additionally utilized.

Next, a method of determining a commodity price using the commodity pricing apparatus shown in FIG. 3 will be described. The method of determining a commodity price to be described later may be a method in which the commodity price determination apparatus 200 determines a commodity price of a specific commodity, particularly a seasonal commodity, in the system shown in Fig. FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing an example of such a commodity price determination method.

Referring to FIGS. 2, 3, and 6, a basic price for each period is set by predicting or estimating the aging demand (S10). This step may be performed in the base price determination unit 210 of the commodity price determination apparatus 200. Baseline pricing decisions are based on historical demand information, including monthly price and sales volume information for previous seasons. As a result, the base price determination unit 210 sets the price for each period and the target sales amount of the product. The set price and target sales volume can be set in the POS system of the customer system 310. The product information including the commodity price set in the customer system 310 is transmitted to the EIL server 110 and displayed on the screen of the EIL tag 130.

Next, the customer's interest evaluation is performed (S20). This step may be performed in the interest evaluation unit 220 of the commodity price determination apparatus 200. The interest evaluation unit 220 evaluates the customer's interest in a specific commodity based on the behavior or characteristics of the customers who visited the store. For example, if the EIL tag 130 has a touch screen function and / or a switch function, detailed information of the product can be provided through the EIL tag 130 when there is a contact of the customer. At this time, the EIL server 110 counts that the customer is interested only by the contact with the customer, or counts only when the detailed information of the product is exposed for a predetermined time or more, or when the detailed information is exposed It may be counted only if there is additional customer action (such as NFC tagging or barcode reading, or contact with additional EIL tag 130). As another example, when the detailed information of the product is searched through the customer's digital billboard 350 or NFC tagging is performed through the NFC function of the EIL tag 130 or detailed information of the product is searched through the NFC tag, (The subject of the count may be billboard server 360, EIL server 110, or web server 370). In the case of the digital billboard 350, it is possible to count only those products that are of interest, such as a customer's particular concentration among the products displayed as advertisements. For this purpose, the digital billboard 350 can use the camera installed therein or, if necessary, utilize eyeball analysis technology to determine whether the customer is interested in the advertisement. As another example, the IPS server 340 and / or the proximity sensor 330 may be used to collect customer location information and thereby evaluate the customer interest based on the traffic information that the customer stays in a specific product area. At this time, if it is impossible to collect real-time customer location information, the proximity sensor 330 or the CCTV may be selectively installed in the seasonal product display area to selectively estimate the customer's interest in the product group.

If it is necessary in step S20, the sales amount of the product can also be analyzed. The sales volume analysis may be performed in the sales volume analysis unit 230 of the product price determination apparatus 200. [ The sales volume analyzing unit 230 may generate information on the sales volume of the product or information on the difference between the target sales volume and the old sales volume.

Subsequently, the commodity price determination apparatus 200 determines the final price of the commodity, and transmits the determined final price information to the EIL server 110 so that the final price information can be displayed through the EIL tag 130 (S30). The POS of the customer system 310 may be mediated when the final price information determined by the product pricing apparatus 200 is transmitted to the EIL server 110. [ That is, the final price information is registered in the POS, and the registered final price information may be transmitted to the EIL server 110 together with other product information.

The product price determination unit 240 can estimate the potential customer demand for the product through the customer interest transmitted from the interest evaluation unit 220. Herein, the customer interest can be evaluated through the information collected through the EIL server 110, the IPS server 340, the web server 370, and the billboard server 360 as described above. The product price determination unit 240 may also receive real-time sales volume information for the product from the sales volume analysis unit 230, if necessary. At this time, the commodity-price determining apparatus 240 determines the final price of the commodity based on the real-time sales amount as well as the potential customer demand based on the degree of interest of the customer by modifying the base price received from the base price determining unit 210 Can be determined.

More specifically, the final price can be determined by combining the potential customer demand information that can be estimated from the customer's interest, the target sales amount at the time of setting the base price, and the actual sales amount for the product, and correcting the base price. For example, if the potential customer estimate and / or the actual sales volume is smaller than the initial target sales volume, the base price may be considered to be set high so that the final price can be determined in the direction of lowering the base price. As another example, if the potential customer estimate and / or the actual sales volume exceeds the initial target sales volume, the base price may be considered to be set low, so that the final price can be determined in the direction of raising the base price.

The above description is only an example of the present invention, and the technical idea of the present invention should not be interpreted as being limited by this embodiment. The technical idea of the present invention should be specified only by the invention described in the claims. Therefore, it is apparent to those skilled in the art that the above-described embodiments may be modified and embodied in various forms without departing from the technical spirit of the present invention.

Claims (16)

An apparatus for determining a price of a product sold in a store equipped with an electronic information label (EIL) system and providing the price to the EIL system,
A base price determining unit for determining a base price based on a temporal demand forecast of the product;
An interest evaluating unit for evaluating, in real time, a customer interest expressed by an interest or an action displayed by customers visiting the store; And
And a final price determining unit for determining a final price by increasing or decreasing the base price by reflecting customer interest in the product evaluated by the interest evaluating unit. The method according to claim 1,
Wherein the interest evaluator evaluates the customer interest using the customer's contact frequency for the EIL tag of the product. 3. The method of claim 2,
The contact frequency includes at least one of the number of times the customer directly contacts the EIL tag and the number of times the customer uses the smart phone to perform NFC tagging on the proximity communication (NFC) target included in the EIL tag Characterized by a product price determination device. 3. The method according to claim 1 or 2,
Wherein the interest evaluator evaluates the customer interest using a customer's interest in the product being advertised on the digital billboard. 5. The method of claim 4,
Wherein the interest evaluating unit is configured to determine a customer's interest by using at least one of a proximity sensor provided on the digital billboard, a camera installed on the digital billboard, and a video monitoring apparatus installed in the store, A product price determination device. 3. The method according to claim 1 or 2,
Wherein the interest evaluator evaluates the customer interest using traffic information of customers in the store. The method according to claim 6,
Wherein the traffic information is acquired using an indoor location tracking service (IPS) server provided in the store. 3. The method according to claim 1 or 2,
Further comprising a sales volume analyzer for analyzing real time sales volume of the goods,
Wherein the final price determining unit determines the final price to reflect the real-time sales amount by the sales volume analyzing unit. A method for determining a price of a commodity sold in a store equipped with an electronic information label (EIL) system,
Determining a base price based on a temporal demand forecast of the product;
Evaluating customer interest expressed by interest or behavior displayed by the customers visiting the store in real time; And
Determining a final price to be displayed through the EIL system by increasing or decreasing the base price to reflect customer interest in the product. 10. The method of claim 9,
Wherein the evaluating step evaluates the customer interest using the customer's contact frequency with respect to the EIL tag of the product. 11. The method of claim 10,
The contact frequency includes at least one of the number of times the customer directly contacts the EIL tag and the number of times the customer uses the smart phone to perform NFC tagging on the proximity communication (NFC) target included in the EIL tag A method for determining a commodity price as a characteristic. 11. The method according to claim 9 or 10,
Wherein the evaluating step evaluates the customer interest using a customer's interest in the product being advertised on the digital billboard. 13. The method of claim 12,
Wherein the evaluating step grasps an interest of the customer by using at least one of a proximity sensor provided in the digital billboard, a camera installed in the digital billboard, and a video surveillance device installed in the store, How to determine the commodity price. 11. The method according to claim 9 or 10,
Wherein the evaluating step evaluates the customer interest using traffic information of customers in the store. 15. The method of claim 14,
Wherein the traffic information is acquired using an indoor location tracking service (IPS) server provided in the store. 11. The method according to claim 9 or 10,
Further comprising a sales volume analysis step for analyzing real time sales volume of the goods,
Wherein the final price determining unit determines the final price to reflect the real-time sales amount by the sales volume analyzing unit as well.

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